Review of primary school hours may lead to changes in time children spend in classroom

The standard primary school day is currently set at five hours and 40 minutes, but individual boards of management can reduce this by one full hour for junior and senior infants. File picture: Danny Lawson/PA

The Department of Education is to review primary school hours in a move that could lead to changes in the amount of time children spend in the classroom.

The review will examine the shorter school day for junior and senior infants, who typically finish an hour earlier than older primary pupils. The arrangement has long been cited as a challenge for parents, who often have to collect younger children before returning later to pick up older siblings.

Concerns have also been raised around the break lengths given to primary school children, with calls for additional play or rest time to be built into the school day. The standard primary school day is currently set at five hours and 40 minutes, but individual boards of management can reduce this by one full hour for junior and senior infants.

A circular that was last updated in 1995 also sets out holidays, stating that schools can close for a maximum of 56 days per year, but must take holidays for the months of July and August. The document sets out the amount of time that should be allocated for breaks, roll call, and assembly.

Confirming plans for a review, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said the provision for a shorter school day for junior classes has been a feature of the Irish education system for many years. 

"These arrangements do not reduce the working day for teachers of those classes," said the spokesperson. "This provision will be considered as part of a review of the circular and take into account the appropriate educational needs of the children attending junior classes."

The spokesperson said the review has not yet commenced as further work is first required. It comes after the Oireachtas education committee recommended that the Irish school system should adopt a model similar to Finland where children receive regular 15-minute breaks throughout the day.

Committee chair and Fianna Fáil TD Cathal Crowe believes the length of the current school day should not be changed, but that children should be given longer breaks and the amount of subjects covered should be streamlined.

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"For children attending school, 183 days is the requirement at primary level, and I think the day at the moment is sufficiently long. What concerns me is that there's huge overloads during that school day," said Mr Crowe, who visited Finland as part of the committee's work earlier this year.

A former teacher himself, Mr Crowe said various modules have been added to the curriculum over the years and extra initiatives rolled out at primary level. It all means that "everything that needs addressing in society kind of gets loaded onto schools".

The Clare TD said children can be "fried" by the amount expected of them. He has called for a system with a focus on core subjects, character formation, and more downtime built into the day, explaining that the amount of homework given at primary level should also be reduced.

"What we saw in Finland was a more tapered-back curriculum. It deals with basics, it deals with character formation, it deals with science," said Mr Crowe. 

"But there's a lot of breaks during the day where the child gets to escape from the textbooks and screens in the classroom and gets out to the yard, fresh air in their lungs, and back in again."

Mr Crowe said he would be against adding an extra hour to junior classes to allow for the same end time across the entire school. "We need to stop overloading the school day. It's leading to teacher burnout," he said, adding: "I think children can get quite frazzled by this overload every day."

• Elaine Loughlin, political editor